The Indian stock market traded nearly flat on Friday morning amid mixed global cues, with automobile stocks dragging sectoral indices.
Shares of ICICI Bank, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, and Reliance Industries weighed on the benchmark indices during early trade.
As of 9:34 a.m., the Sensex hovered around 75,665.80, down 70.16 points or 0.09 percent, while the Nifty stood at 22,890.40, marginally lower by 22.75 points or 0.09 percent.
Market experts said that after a gap-down opening, the indices found support near 22,800 on the Nifty and 75,500 on the Sensex, leading to a reversal. “Following this reversal, the market exhibited range-bound activity throughout the day. Additionally, on daily charts, a small candle has formed, indicating non-directional activity,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities.
On the Nifty 50 index, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Cipla, Larsen & Toubro, and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries helped limit losses.
Meanwhile, Mahindra & Mahindra’s share price fell over 2 percent after the company announced plans to subscribe to shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. and Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. to the full extent of its rights entitlement.
Market sentiment was impacted by Wall Street’s overnight decline, concerns over potential trade disruptions from Trump-era tariffs, persistent US inflation, and the Federal Reserve’s cautious stance on rate cuts.
On the NSE, sectoral indices opened mixed. The NSE Nifty Auto index declined the most, while the NSE Nifty Realty index registered the highest gains.
In the currency market, the Indian rupee strengthened marginally against the US dollar, trading at 86.55 per dollar, up 0.11 percent from its previous close of 86.67.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,312 crore on February 20, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth ₹3,908 crore.
India VIX, which measures market volatility, declined by 4.78 percent on Thursday to trade at 14.6825.
-IANS
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